All players in the Super Eagles appear to have picked new ideas and messages from the pre-World Cup integrity lecture arranged for the Nigerian national team, in preparation for their flight to Russia for this year’s Mundial.
This much has been disclosed by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) assistant director (legal), Barrister Okey Obi, who hailed the session that held in London on Thursday last week.
The session took place at the team’s Hilton London Wembley hotel in the evening, with Obi sharing the kernel of FIFA’s effort at fighting match manipulation with the players and officials.
Players and officials sat with rapt attention through the 30-minute, 21-slide presentation, and Obi’s task was made easier by Captain Mikel John Obi leading the sense of absolute involvement in the programme.
All 26 players in the team camp in London as at Thursday night attended the briefing along with the team officials, including technical adviser, Gernot Rohr.
Others present were Salisu Yusuf (Chief Coach); Jean-Luc Royer (Assistant Coach); Imama Amapakabo (Assistant Coach); Alloy Agu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer); Enrico Pionetti (Assistant Coach); Bernard Gines (Assistant Coach); and Dayo Enebi Achor (Team Administrator).
Also at the session were Ibrahim Gyaran (Team Doctor); Nnaemeka Anozie (Team Physiotherapist); Pascal Patrick (Team Coordinator); Toyin Ibitoye (Media Officer); Hassan Suleiman (second Physiotherapist) and; Chidi Ngoka (Equipment Manager).
Afterwards, Barrister Obi, Nigeria’s Single Point of Contact (SPoC) on integrity matters for the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, was beaming from ear-to-ear.
He said: “I must say that I was pleasantly surprised and delighted with the keen interest and attention that the players and officials paid to the presentation, and the level of acceptance that I could deduce thereafter.
“Players and officials excitedly downloaded the FIFA Integrity App on their phones and my attention was in fact drawn to the collective sharing of ideas on the presentation by the players.
“Immediately they had access to their phones, they downloaded the App and started talking about it among themselves.”
